


MAKE AMERICA GAY AGAIN

by imafriendlydalek



Series: American Pride [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Steve Rogers does not support Donald Trump, Steve accidentally makes a political statement, oops I got politics in my fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 07:52:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6186571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imafriendlydalek/pseuds/imafriendlydalek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Steve, babe, if you’re trying to be inconspicuous, you brought the wrong hat.”</p>
<p>In which Steve accidentally makes more of a political statement than he had intended. Maybe he should have looked more carefully at which hat he grabbed before leaving the Tower...</p>
            </blockquote>





	MAKE AMERICA GAY AGAIN

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fitz_y](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fitz_y/gifts).



> This fic was inspired by [this hat](http://shop.hrc.org/new-arrival/make-america-cap.html) and fitz_y proclaiming that it looks like Steve's incognito hat.
> 
> This is all fitz_y's fault.
> 
> Please don't bother reading this if you like the Republican candidate whose name sounds like Ronald Drumpf. You won't enjoy it.

The headline catches Steve’s eye and he makes a beeline for the newsstand to take a closer look.

He stares at it in disbelief. He blinks a few times, but it’s annoyingly still there.

CAPTAIN AMERICA ON GAY CRUSADE, it declares.

He blinks at it again. Nope, still there.

A hand slips around the small of his back; another reaches out to cover his hand, carefully loosening his grip on the paper.

“It’s okay, babe,” he hears Tony’s voice telling him, his tone a soothing one. “It’s just the press being stupid. This is what they do.”

He looks down at the paper again and realizes he’s clutching it hard enough to wrinkle. Apologetically, he presses a ten-dollar bill into the newsagent’s hand and stalks away, crumpling and twisting the paper as he strides back towards the Tower.

***

_Meeting absolute waste. Finished early. Meet me at The Partridge Cafe in 30?_ the text message reads.

Steve smiles and puts his phone back down before he starts to unwrap the tape around his hands. He’d had an early run with Sam and decided to follow it up with some time on the heavy bags. Tony has been out in California all week for a marathon of Stark Industries meetings and Steve had been starting to chafe. Endless meetings make Tony grumpy, which make the separation even tougher, but really, any night that Tony isn’t by his side feels empty.

It’s funny to think how they’d been thrown together by a single photo printed on the front cover with a sensational headline and a misunderstanding by the general public, under seemingly bizarre circumstances, but had ended up finding that it was exactly what they had been missing. They _fit_ together, Steve and Tony, in a way that they had been too blind to see at first but now can’t imagine living without.

And now Tony is headed home, _and_ there’s brunch at Steve’s favorite cafe in Brooklyn to look forward to. Steve is happy.

He’s also in a hurry. He definitely needs to shower, and unlike certain other people he knows who can fly from A to B by swinging their hammer or hopping into their shiny flying metal can, Steve is stuck taking ground transportation like most normal people. Which can be hell this time of day. 

He’s in and out of the shower in under two minutes and pulls on the first pair of jeans, t-shirt and hoodie he can find. The subway is bound to be crowded and he isn’t really in the mood for the inevitable hordes of people wanting selfies with him or to tell him how much they appreciate or detest the work of the Avengers, so he also grabs his trusty incognito baseball cap and sunglasses. It’s almost funny to think how effective two so simple items are at hiding his identity. But then again, unlike Tony, people tend not to recognize Steve all that often when he’s out of uniform.

For some reason, though, he seems to be drawing a lot more looks today than usual. People generally don’t look up from their phones and tablets on the subway anyway, and certainly ignore someone dressed in thoroughly ordinary clothing (this is a trick Steve has learned from Bruce. Tony definitely has not.). But today they are looking. A few people even snap photos - they’re trying to be inconspicuous about it, but Steve notices nevertheless. That’s strange too. Usually, if people recognize him, they come over to talk. Everyone assumes Captain America is always there for them, which Steve tries to live up, so if someone comes over to talk, he listens. It’s rare, however, for people to just snap photos and leave.

An elderly man - okay, he’s probably actually a few years younger than Steve - glances over and narrows his eyes at Steve, his mouth turning down into an annoyed frown. He mutters something under his breath, but the subway is screeching around a corner so Steve can’t make out what it was.

He tries not to think about it too much as the subway makes its way to Brooklyn, instead turning his thoughts to what is to come. He’s very much looking forward to seeing Tony again. And also that amazing banana bacon French toast they have at the cafe. Tony and food are pretty surefire ways to make Steve happy.

The sun is shining when he steps out of the subway station, so he actually feels justified in wearing sunglasses. A few more people snap photos of him, and a group of hipsters even shoot him a thumbs up and call “Damn right!” after him. That’s weird, but he ignores it and continues on his way to the cafe.

The Iron Man suit is already parked outside, and Steve feels his smile widen and his pulse quicken at the sight of it. Tony is sitting at a table out on the patio, the sun shining across his face as his hands cradle a mug, and he beams at Steve when he spots him. 

Steve’s breath catches. It’s been almost a year, but the man still makes Steve’s heart do weird things just by smiling at him. If there is one thing that Steve is sure of, it’s that he never wants to let this go. Maybe they’ll even put that new ruling declaring same-sex marriage legal to use...

Steve crosses the patio in three determined strides and wraps Tony up in a tight hug. _God_ it feels good just to hold him again. 

“Missed you,” he murmurs into Tony’s hair.

“You too, babe.”

Steve is well aware that the other patrons at the cafe are looking at them when they finally pull apart, but he doesn’t care. Tony is here with him again, and that is all that matters.

They take their seats at their table, Tony grinning at Steve over the menu he’s pretending to read. Why he’s bothering, Steve isn’t sure - they’ve been there often enough to have tried everything on the menu, though Tony always orders the salmon and chive omelette on a wheat bagel. And three cappuccinos, to be brought out in ten-minute intervals.

“Tonyyyy,” Steve finally says after two minutes of Tony grinning at him like a mad person.

“Steeeeeve,” Tony parrots.

Steve shoots him an exasperated look. “What is it? Do I have something on my face? In my teeth? Why does everyone keep looking at me funny today?”

Tony snorts into his cappuccino. There are bits of milk foam in his goatee. 

Steve resists the urge to reach across the table and wipe them away.

“I have absolutely no idea, Honey Bunches of Oats,” Tony deadpans.

Okay, so _obviously_ there’s something.

A group of teenagers walks past the cafe, stops when they recognize first Tony and then Steve, and pull out their phones to snap photos of them. Tony, attention hound that he is, shoots them a grin and a ridiculously dorky thumbs up in Steve’s direction.

Steve pastes on a smile for the photo but pulls out his sternest Captain America face once they are gone. “Tony, what is it?”

“Oh, nothing, really,” Tony replies, clearly trying and failing to conceal a smile. “I’m just surprised you’re still wearing your incognito outfit. You always insist on taking off hats and sunglasses indoors.”

“We’re technically still outdoors, and it’s sunny outside. You know I don’t like the bright light.”

“Ah, yes, the Irish complexion strikes again.” Tony takes a deep sip of his cappuccino.

“Says the master of hiding behind sunglasses,” Steve retorts.

“So why the incognito look today?”

Steve shrugs. “Wasn’t in the mood for talking to people on the subway,” he says as he removes his glasses, folding them carefully and setting them on the table.

“Steve, babe, if you’re trying to be inconspicuous, you brought the wrong hat.”

Steve shoots Tony a questioning look, sitting up a little straighter as he pulls the article in question off his head and turns it around to look at it.

“Sonofabitch,” he lets out.

“Cap, language!” Tony exclaims with a laugh. “We’re in public!”

Steve glares back at him, then at his hat. That was _definitely_ not the hat he had meant to grab on his way out.

He usually opts for a simple navy blue baseball cap, something unobtrusive that people wouldn’t bother glancing at twice. On game days, he might pull out a Yankees or Mets cap, depending on who’s playing, but that’s about as close to taking a position on something as he gets.

Except today, apparently.

The hat had been a gift from Dylan, the kid with the rainbow fauxhawk who had invited Steve and Tony to that Pride rally that fateful day Steve and Tony finally pulled their heads out of their asses and realized their feelings for each other. They’ve stayed in touch, primarily through the ridiculous memes Dylan likes to text to Steve but occasionally they meet for lunch or a movie. Dylan’s a good kid, and he helps remind Steve what he’s fighting for, especially when the press decides to revisit the Captain America & Iron Man story on slow news days.

Which they are bound to do tomorrow.

MAKE AMERICA GAY AGAIN, the hat reads. It’s a direct play on a slogan being spread by a populist Republican candidate, a man that makes Steve’s skin crawl and leaves him seething whenever Steve hears him speak. The man is the antithesis of everything Steve stands for, and Steve had had a long, hearty laugh when he had opened the package from Dylan to find the hat inside. He’d worn it around the Tower a few times for laughs before setting it on his hat rack, but he had certainly never intended to wear it outside. The world knows about Steve and Tony’s relationship, of course, and they have inevitably taken on a sort of ambassadorial role for the gay community, but political discussions are a whole different ballgame.

Steve tries his hardest to stay out of politics. He knows well the role ascribed to Captain America, and how both sides of the political spectrum like to use, and misuse, that figure to their own ends, and he also knows not to allow himself to get mixed up in it. The Avengers are there to fight threats, they are not a political organization. While Tony makes no secret of his affiliations, he’s always careful to stress that they are his personal stance and not those of the team. The others stay quieter on political matters.

Except now Steve has unwittingly gone and made a huge statement. Well this is bound to be interesting.

***

Okay, ‘interesting’ was a bit of an understatement. There’s a mob of reporters gathered in front of the Tower by the time they get back. Tony goes ahead of Steve, shielding him by drawing most of the attention onto himself as the reporters fling questions at them.

“Is Captain America endorsing the Democratic candidate?”

“Who is Captain America voting for?”

“Is Captain America trying to push the gay agenda?”

Steve loses his cool at that one. He stops in his tracks and turns to face the reporter, pulling his sunglasses off his face in a move he’s learned from Tony.

“I make no secret of my orientation, about the fact that I love this man.” He runs a hand down Tony’s spine, who smiles back at him warmly. “I’m glad that has given people the courage to speak more openly about who _they_ are, to speak out against those who might try to portray being gay or bi or trans as wrong. What I will _not_ stand for is people trying to take the idea of Captain America and turning it into something it is not, which is a political figure. No, me wearing a certain hat or a specific color or, I don’t know, a particular tie, does not mean that Captain America endorses one candidate or the other. But I will say this, though. Not as Captain America but as Steve Rogers. As a concerned citizen of this green Earth and as a veteran who has witnessed firsthand the atrocities committed by an egomaniacal fascist leader. I have seen with my own eyes what happens when a charismatic radical figure is allowed to rise to power and push through his hatefueled ideologies. We must not allow ourselves to be swept up by stump speeches that appeal to our baser emotions. I, for one, will do everything in my power to keep him from rising to power, which is to _vote against him_ , and I, Steve Rogers, strongly encourage everyone else to do so as well. Democracy is, after all, what we, the people, make of it.” 

With that, he turns his back on the crowd, takes Tony by the hand and leads him into the Tower.

Tony pulls him to a stop once they’re inside and kisses him, rather fiercely, until both are out of breath. “Well said, babe,” Tony mumbles against his lips.

On the other side of the glass, the cameras are still snapping away.

***

The next morning, the team is gathered in the kitchen for breakfast when JARVIS announces that the hashtag #SteveRogersForPresident is apparently trending.

Steve groans and lets his head slump against the table. 

“Well there’s a candidate I could really get behind,” Tony says. Steve can practically hear him winking.

Without lifting his head, Steve gropes around for the closest thing he can find to throw at Tony’s head, which happens to be a poppy seed bagel.

“You know, if you did get elected, you would be both the oldest and youngest president ever to serve,” Bruce points out matter-of-factly.

“I hate you all,” Steve growls.

“I do not believe that is a sound basis for a political platform,” Thor interjects. 

“It is in this country,” Natasha counters.

“I'm going back to bed,” Steve announces as he stalks out of the kitchen.

“Now _that_ ,” Clint declares, “is a political platform I can identify with.”


End file.
